COMMENTARIES
  • Chronicling the Afghanistan Tragedy – V Zahir Shah, Daud Khan and the Saur Revolution
    D Suba Chandran    ·   16 Oct, 2001    ·    #613    ·    Commentary    
    Zahir Shah, who is now being considered as a key player by the West in setting up any broad-based coalition in the aftermath of the fall of the Taliban, became the King of Afghanistan in 1933. He was deposed by his cousin Daud Khan in 1973. ...
  • Chronicling the Afghanistan Tragedy – IV The Great Game
    D Suba Chandran    ·   16 Oct, 2001    ·    #612    ·    Commentary    
    The British and the Russians started showing interests in Afghanistan since the beginning of 19th century. The “Great Game”, as it came to be called later, started when Persia , with the Russian help, attempted to take o...
  • Chronicling the Afghanistan Tragedy III The First Afghan Empire
    D Suba Chandran    ·   11 Sep, 2001    ·    #611    ·    Commentary    
    The first Afghan Empire was established under Ahmad Shah Abdali in 1747. He belonged to the Durrani tribe and was selected as the leader of the tribe by the elders in Kandahar . He proceeded to win Ghazni, Kabul , Herat , Ma...
  • Chronicling the Afghanistan Tragedy – II In Search of an Independent Kingdom
    D Suba Chandran    ·   16 Oct, 2001    ·    #610    ·    Commentary    
    The ancient history of Afghanistan can be traced from the Achaemenid Empire of Darius the Great (500 BC). Herat (earlier known as Aria), Balkh ( Bactria ), Kandahar (Arachosia) were regional provinces, or satr...
  • Chronicling the Afghanistan Tragedy – I The Land and its People
    D Suba Chandran    ·   16 Oct, 2001    ·    #609    ·    Commentary    
    Afghanistan is a heterogeneous country – geographically and ethnically. It encompasses an area of 245,000 square miles and is located between four strategically significant regions – Central Asia in the north, West Asia/Middle ...
  • A New Face of Terrorism and Coming Anarchy
       ·   15 Oct, 2001    ·    #608    ·    Commentary    
    Terrorists want  “a lot of people watching, not a lot of people dead”; but this has changed after the September Eleven multiple hijacking and synchronized suicide attacks on the World Trade Center and P...
  • New Regime in Bangladesh: Concerns for India
       ·   11 Oct, 2001    ·    #607    ·    Commentary    
    The political spectrum of Bangladesh emerging out of the October 1st elections swung the pendulum unpredictably. In a reversal of public opinion, the BNP, with 186 seats, over three times that of the ruling Awami Leaague, secured a virtual...
  • Issues in Devolution of Power in Sri Lanka
       ·   11 Oct, 2001    ·    #606    ·    Commentary    
    Within Sri Lanka there has been a debate on devolution, both inside and outside the parliament. The Government has introduced a new Bill which, because of inherent problems, would gain less support from the Tamil community.   ...
  • War on Terrorism: Coalition Sans Commitment
    Maj. Gen. Yashwant Deva (Retd)    ·   10 Oct, 2001    ·    #605    ·    Commentary    
    The grand alliance that the US has rigged up to shadow box terrorism is a collage of disparate interests with a marked absence of commitment to the cause. It smacks more of crass opportunism rather than a willing cooperation to take on the evil ...
  • New Regime in Bangladesh: Misplaced Notion of Concern in the Northeast
    Bibhu Prasad Routray    ·   10 Oct, 2001    ·    #604    ·    Commentary    
    Results in the recently concluded elections in Bangladesh have been widely interpreted to be the beginning of fresh trouble in the Indian northeast. The victory of the alliance led by the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP)...
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